Various high performance and high quality metal, steel, or ceramic components, such as bearing components, rods, axles, shafts, couplings, engine members, etc., may be manufactured from a workpiece using a turning process. The turning process involves a machining operation which physically removes material from a machining surface of the workpiece with a cutting tool, often comprised of a replaceable tool insert or tip, such as a carbide, CBN, or ceramic insert. Material removal during the machining operation is achieved by providing a relative rotational movement between the workpiece and the cutting tool, contacting a machining surface of the workpiece with a tip of the cutting tool, and moving the cutting tool in relation to the workpiece such that a suitable amount of material is removed during each revolution of the turning process.
In order to achieve proper high quality properties of the components, such as high dimensional accuracy, such as roundness and cylindricity which are critical factors, further treatment involving e.g. grinding and/or honing manufacturing steps are commonly utilized. Additional manufacturing steps, however, require additional machinery and increase manufacturing time and complexity as well as cost. Hence, in order to facilitate the manufacturing, it is desired to improve the quality of the final cut of the components from the machining operation such that subsequent manufacturing steps for achieving the intended dimension and surface finishing of the component may be reduced, or avoided. In particular, this applies to hard turning manufacturing wherein the machining operation is performed on a component workpiece which has the hardness required by the final component application, such as a rolling bearing application in the case of a bearing ring or rolling body component.
Machining operations, however, involve highly complex interactions between the cutting tool and machining surface of the workpiece, which, during the manufacturing process, impede the accuracy and properties of the finalized component. For example, initial workpiece distortions, e.g. from hardening processes, as well as an initial high level of surface roughness and dimensional inaccuracy of the machining surface to be processed, have a negative effect on the machining results. Furthermore, essentially stochastic, and/or uncontrollable, turning processes relating to the cutting tool, such as chipping, fracturing, wear, build-up edge, etc., affect the final cut by e.g. increasing the profile error of the machined component. This leads to that the final quality and performance of the component is compromised, and that manufacturing productivity is hampered.
Hence, there exists a need to improve current techniques and to achieve manufacturing processes and machining equipment capable of providing improved and more efficient machining operations, higher productivity and improved components with increased dimensional accuracy and surface properties.